Weekend in Wellington

What a relaxing couple of days! On Friday, Hannah’s parents came and picked us up from Matamata, and we drove the 6-hour roadtrip to Wellington – but not before having a picnic at the Taupo Lake beach! It was beautiful – we had been there for the 2^nd free weekend, but now it is summer and much warmer and more enjoyable! Then, Hannah’s mom made us MY FIRST HOME-COOKED MEAL IN 6 MONTHS. Oh, what a joyous occasion.

Saturday was so amazing. And by amazing, I mean relaxing. Beks and I slept in until 10:30 and then we got up and pulled out our computers and spent the entire day planning! We planned for our week and where we are going and what we are doing. We skyped with everyone from our DTS that were still in Auckland, waiting for their flights out. It was emotional. Slightly. For me. It was weird, people that I’m so used to being around all the time – I felt like I could just shut the computer off and walk in the next room and talk to them, but they were a whole day’s drive away! That evening, we took a walk along the waterfront and had dinner at the cutest little harbor front restaurant. I loved it!

And Sunday. Sunday mornin’ rain is fallin’. Laladeedeeda. We woke up super duper early to meet some friends with some last minute plans! We found out that Schnegg, Elisa, Marit, and Steph were stopping through Windy Welly on the way to the South Island, so we decided to meet them at MickeyDee’s for some lovin’. J I must say, it was a beautiful reunion. It felt like we hadn’t seen them in years, not mere days! But it was so comfortable to be around them – literally like family, where everything just falls back into place when you see each other, like we had never been separated at all. And then, lo and behold, you’ll never guess who showed up at McDonald’s for some free WiFi!? Henk and Noemi, who were also stopping through Wellington to wait for Kat on their South. Glorious.

 

But then, we had to say goodbye and go to CHURCH. Which was amazing. I’m not gonna lie, I was a snob going into church, thinking “There’s no way that a typical Sunday service will rock my world the way YWAM did.” Ha. As soon as I realized how self-centered and stupid I was being, God totally started talking to me! A lady stood up between worship and the sermon and gave a word about the dry bones in Ezekiel. I grabbed Hannah and Rebekah’s hands and nearly started crying. That passage was the one from our particular school – the Pursuits September 2012 school. It was kind of like our mission statement/goal/whatever you want to call it. And God still wanted me to remember the breathe life into dry bones even after DTS is over. And then, the Pastor spoke on Moving Forward and Gaining Momentum. That’s exactly what we needed to hear – what I’m trying to grasp right now is closing the door on this chapter and moving forward to the next. That going home is going BACK home, it’s going FORWARD home. Yeah. And then we sang “Your Presence Lord” by Bryan and Katie Torwalt. Mhmmm, thank you Jesus. Soon after, we made our way to the BEACH. The New Zealand sun was so delicious, we lay in it’s warmth for hours.

 

And then, Hannah’s lovely friends kidnapped her and Rebekah and I were on our own! We aimlessly walked about for some time before our hunger got the best of us and we found a nice Japanese restaurant and ate our hearts out. I love my talk time with Bek – she’s so wise and we never run out of things to say. Then we bussed back home like good little Wellington girls and hit the sack!

 

 

PS - most photo credits go to the lovely Rebekah Combs.